PJ Monthly Nov24 thumbnail

PLAN Jeffco Monthly November 2024

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PJ Monthly Nov24 thumbnail

Join Us in Celebrating as we mark one year of the PLAN Jeffco Monthly. We invite you to reflect on the importance of community engagement in enhancing the quality of life in Jefferson County. Your participation plays a crucial role in our advocacy for open spaces, and we appreciate your commitment to preserving the environment. Together, we can continue to foster a deep connection with nature and encourage others to enjoy the diverse parks and recreational opportunities our county has to offer. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us!

Download your copy of the November newsletter here.

Furred, feathered & finned critters that are protected by conservation easements

Conservation Easements Preserve Open Lands, Protect Wildlife

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Furred, feathered & finned critters that are protected by conservation easementsIn 1971, Carol Karlin conceived of the idea of buying large swaths of scenic mountain property to protect it from development and build trails for public recreation. Shortly thereafter, PLAN Jeffco was formed, and months later, the Jeffco Open Space program was voted into reality. Read the full story here.

Since that time, nearly 58,000 acres have been purchased by Jeffco Open Space, lands that have become Open Space Parks and that have been incorporated into local city and park & recreation district trails and playgrounds. But purchasing lands is not the only way to preserve open space.

Conservation easements, voluntary, legal agreements that permanently limit uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values, are instruments that have protected and preserved some 2.7 million acres in Colorado alone, a number that represents over 6% of private lands in the State. Read more

Remembering the Founders – Carol Karlin

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The Woman of the Living Room Legacy

By Vicky Gits and Bette Seeland

Karlin is credited with launching PLAN Jeffco and the open space movement in 1971 from her Lakewood living room along with a gathering of members of the League of Women Voters and others.

Without the vision and genius of Carol Karlin the Jefferson County Open Space system might never have become reality.

Thanks to Karlin’s idea of scooping up cheap acreage for posterity, the Front Range enjoys a generous portfolio of trails and parks owned and maintained in perpetuity by the residents of and visitors to Jefferson County who pay a half-cent sales tax.

This explains why there is a charming outdoor seating nook framed in pinon and boulders in a distant corner of Elk Meadow Park in Evergreen. Established sometime around 2008, the site is marked with the sign that says, “Carol Karlin Overlook.” Read more

HISTORICAL versus CONTEMPORARY WILDFIRES

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Wildfires in the mountain west have become less frequent but more intense.

Recently, the Denver Gazette published a short article on current research comparing historical versus contemporary wildfires in the America Southwest, with (to this reader) some rather surprising results.

The areas investigated in this study were primarily dry conifer forests dominated by Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir, very similar to our own forests in the Jeffco Front Range. Prior to 1880, wildfires used to sweep through these forests every 10 to 12 years. These were almost entirely low-to-moderate intensity fires that cleared out undergrowth and forest duff, burning off the lower limbs of the trees, but not devastating enough to kill the trees themselves. Typically, these low-intensity burns involved smaller areas, 5 to 250 acres. Despite the small size of these wildfires, the frequency and style of these fires were able to maintain forest health, even during prolonged periods of drought, when fires were started by lightning strikes and/or Indigenous forest stewardship events. Read more